John Penton set the transcontinental record in 1959 on a BMW R69 and we are making a movie about his life, racing and career as Penton Motorcycles founder (now KTM). The film will be narrated by Grammy Winner and adventure rider himself, Lyle Lovett who raced motocross on Pentons and worked in a Penton dealership in Texas when he was 14.

We are utilizing Kickstarter.com to allow the public and fans help support the movie with as little as $1. You can pledge through this link:

John Penton set the transcontinental record in 1959 on a BMW R69 and we are making a movie about his life, racing and career as Penton Motorcycles founder (now KTM). The film will be narrated by Grammy Winner and adventure rider himself, Lyle Lovett who raced motocross on Pentons and worked in a Penton dealership in Texas when he was 14.

We are utilizing Kickstarter.com to allow the public and fans help support the movie with as little as $1. You can pledge through this link:

I have talked with John Penton a few times at the local Penton Owners Group in Amherst, OH. I truly is one hell of a guy and this is a very important film that needs to be completed before we loose John. He really changed the off road motor cycle industry by making bikes, fast , simple, easy to fix on the trail, and a lot less weight than the others.
Try to help out if you can!

All of KTM owners need to support this project, with out John we would not have these bikes today! He is a great guy and this needs to be done before it is to late. His vision and dedication to off road racing completely changed how manufacturers designed and built bikes. My 1974 250 hare scrambler has a wide space between the swing arm with a removable spacer that allows you to remove the rear wheel with out disconnecting the brake, it also draws air into the carb thru the top frame rail to allow deep water crossing. These are just a few examples of feature he designed into his bikes.
He was not happy with the quality of gear so he approached Alpinestars who made ski boots and designed a off road motorcycle boot that he then marketed has Hipoint gear and offered a full line of parts for bikes.
Take time to check out the video and try to support the project

Thanks guys for the support on this project. We have a short term goal of $125,000 by tonight at midnight which will get us $25K short of the goal with 13 days to go.

We'll be at Anaheim Supercross this weekend promoting and maybe Phoenix the next weekend!.

Spoke with the head of Alpinestars the other day via email and I think they're coming in to join KTM USA (who has pledged the max...We love them!) We also discussed planning for interviews with Alpinestars folks in Italy. Cool!

If we reach the goal we will start the pre-production with research on interviews, etc. Shooting will begin this spring. John and Jack Penton may travel with us for the Europe leg to Austria, Italy, etc. for John to visit old friends...our camera will be rolling!

Lots of great rewards for becoming a backer with DVD's, signed posters and books, premiere tickets, even ON-SCREEN CREDIT!

This is the fourth of six videos in a short series from interviews with John and Jack Penton and the late Dane Leimbach for the forthcoming film, "The John Penton Story" narrated by Grammy Winner, Lyle Lovett.

In this short piece, Jack Penton talks about how his siblings and others in the Ohio area became national and international caliber riders by first, learning to keep up with his dad John, and then with each other.

We are approaching $112,000 with over 300 backers! 12 days to go!

Please help support this project by January 14th, 2013 at Kickstarter.com.

How did you set the deadline... why is there a deadline? I'm naive as to how tv things work hence the question.

Thanks for asking Clay! The deadline is part of how Kickstarter works. They have you set a deadline, no longer than 60 days. They recommend 30. This creates a sense of urgency for backers and project holders to get the word out and so things don't linger.

Also, the deadline is part of the ALL or NOTHING system where unless you reach the entire goal (in our case $150K) none of the backer's fund's are taken. This insures projects have the funds they asked for and will be completed so backers get their rewards.

I hope this makes sense.

We had the project on in the summer for 30 days and a larger amount and didn't come close...This time we just...might...make it.